Sunshine, Daisies and Butter Mellow
by xBeeautiful
Summary: Rae Williams is an ordinary girl - that is, until she finds out she's a witch. Then she befriends Albus Potter, blames his dad for her uncle's death and makes a scene of first year. The truth is; she's Muggle through and through. How ever will she last?
1. Chapter One

**Sunshine, Daisies and Butter Mellow**

**A/N: This is the first time I've tried to write a story about the future Harry Potter characters (you know, their kids and so on) so I dunno how it'll turn out. But I hope you all like it! It follows on rather closely from the books, and everything that happened **_**did**_** happen – I'm not changing anything major only the end of the seventh book – you'll see. It isn't too bad but things have to be done when you have your own character! X'). Also I'll have a lot of my own characters in here (just because Hogwarts needs teachers!) so yeah, I own them, please don't steal (:**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than the characters you don't recognise from the Harry Potter series and the plot, that all belongs to J.K. Rowling *loveee***

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**Chapter One**

It was a very good summer, which was surprising. It had been terribly cold and wet that year, all the way until the middle of June! Though now it was July, and everyone was out enjoying the holidays. Rae Williams was one of them. She lived in a quiet place in Derbyshire (though it was practically in Yorkshire) and was just getting by. Her family wasn't that well off, you could say, so her home was shabby and what she got was minimal, but that's what made her appreciate life. Lying on her back on her front garden, she felt the cool grass brush against her skin and wondered what secondary school was like. She was eleven years old already, as her birthday was in January, but had no friends and was often called 'too mature for her age'. Rae didn't believe it, she was very carefree and young when you got to know her, but she knew that somewhere in her life, something had caused a part of her to grow up, and that part was the one that gave her the most pain.

"Rayven, dinner's ready!" her mother called from the kitchen window. Rae groaned at the use of her full name, she much preferred to be called Rae, even though Rayven _was_ a cool name. Slinking into the cramped, threadbare kitchen, Rae grabbed the tray with her dinner on it and headed up to her room. It was the only place that she liked in the house, the only place that was really well kept. It was clean (albeit a bit messy) and personalised to the maximum. On one wall were posters of film stars and magazine and newspaper cuttings, movie posters, a calendar, photographs of her and her family, drawings and other things she held dearly, like concert tickets, cinema tickets, bus and train tickets that held good memories and things like that. That surrounded her bed, which was practically covered by stuffed animals, and beside that was a bedside table/bookcase which housed DVDs, games and an assortment of notebooks and ornaments, then the rest of the walls were hidden by chests of drawers crammed with clothes, books, folders and school things. On top of these drawers were more ornaments, figurines, some more teddies and random junk she'd collected throughout the years. Rae was like that; she liked to collect things – _anything_.

Sitting on her bed, she thought more about the upcoming year. She was going to the local comprehensive. Most people from her primary school was going there but new people would be coming, too, so maybe she'd finally find friends. It was doubtful; people just didn't want to get to know her for some reason. Maybe it was because she wasn't _rich_ like the rest of them. Beginning to lazily eat, her eyes glanced at the calendar. Three more days to go.

*

"Rayven, are you awake? There's a letter here for you. I've only just found it when I started up the hoover and Rufus ran off. He was hiding it," her mother rapped on her bedroom door. Rae moaned loudly to clearly signify that it was too early in the morning and she was having a good sleep. But curious about the letter, she unlocked her bedroom door and opened it to take the letter and return to bed.

It was quite heavy, made of some sort of pale yellowish parchment and had a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms. Rae looked closely at the four animals shown; a lion, a badger, an eagle and a snake all surrounding a large letter 'H'. She looked once more at the address, and noticed that there wasn't a stamp. How odd. Then she tore it open carelessly and pulled out two pieces of the same heavy parchment. She opened the first one, it was a letter.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: Lumere Odswald_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Miss Williams,  
__We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.  
__Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

_Yours sincerely,  
__Sadie Stirrawit  
__Deputy Headmistress_

Rae stared at the letter for a few minutes, her brow furrowed. What the hell? Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? International Confederation of Wizards? What in the world was going on?! Curious for more, she unfolded the second piece of parchment and read on:

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

Uniform  
_First year students will require:  
__Three sets of plain work robes (black)  
__One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear  
__One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
__One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)  
__Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags_

Set books  
_All students should have a copy of each of the following:  
_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) _by Miranda Goshawk  
_A History of Magic _by Bathilda Bagshot  
_Magical Theory _by Adalbert Waffling  
_A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration _by Emeric Switch  
_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi _by Phyllida Spore  
_Magical Drafts and Potions _by Arsenius Jigger  
_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _by Newt Scamander  
_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection _by Quentin Trimble_

Other Equipment  
_1 wand  
__1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
__1 set glass or crystal phials  
__1 telescope  
__1 set brass scales_

_Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad_

_PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST-YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS_

Rae blinked a couple of times. Whoever was playing this prank was serious. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed, better tell mother. Just then, her mother shouted her. Good timing. Shrugging on her dressing gown, Rae picked up the letters and envelope and headed downstairs, to her surprise, there was a strange man standing in the living room. Rae's mother looked a little bewildered, her hands were clasped together in front of her and she was fidgeting a lot, her hair looked as if it had been run through with her hands a lot and her eyes were a little wide. Rae suddenly made a connection between the strange letters and the strange man. He turned to her.

"My name is Abel Moreau, I am the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but by the looks of things you've already read the letter," he glanced down at the parchment in Rae's hand. She swallowed, her throat was dry but she didn't say anything to the man. Her eyes took in his appearance; he was rather tall and slender, with a young, gentle face and bright blue eyes. His hair was a glossy brown and was short but some strands fell over his eyes in a bit of a messy but stylish fashion. He wore a plain black suit with a white shirt and black tie; his shoes were recently polished and shone brilliantly. But even though he had this rich-businessman-like appearance, there was something weird about him and now Rae knew what it was… _the nutter thought he was a wizard!_

"I can see you look as if you don't believe me and think it is a prank," he continued with a little chuckle, "but I assure you, it is not. I have come today to help you get your things for the new term and fill you in on everything you have missed. Although I was a little shocked to hear you've only just received your letter, due to your dog," he glanced down at the white sheepdog Rufus, who was sitting by his feet, staring at him intently. "But maybe things are better this way that I got to talk to you straight away." Rae took in a breath and let it out, closing her eyes for a second. She didn't know what to do.

"What's going on? Is this some sort of prank? There's no such thing as wizards, and I definitely can't be a witch. I'm normal, as magic-less as they get, and my whole family is, too, right mum?" she looked at her mother for help but received none. It seemed to be that her mother was hiding something from her. The eleven year old girl watched as her mother collapsed into the armchair and sighed, finally looking up at her daughter.

"I'm sorry I never told you, but we swore to keep it a secret. Ever since… well, ever since he died and none of his family on _that_ side could be found, well… we thought it didn't need mentioning. But… you have a relative that… is a… a wizard. The wizard blood doesn't flow through your veins, so you didn't get it there but… you're related, still…" Her head fell into her hands for a while before she could continue, "my father, when my mother died, married again. We didn't know for a while, but she was a witch. They had a son together, and he's my half-brother, which would make him your uncle. Though I didn't know him for a while because I decided to live with some other relatives, me and my father had an argument when he started seeing this other woman… I was only very young and couldn't handle seeing it. He… he died nineteen years ago, just about…"

"What was his name?" Rae asked a little distantly, wondering how a secret like this could have been kept for so long.

"Severus Snape."

Abel Moreau lowered his eyes, but no one noticed, everything was happening very suddenly. But then, he began talking, feeling that things needed to move. "Well… there is no cause for disbelief, now, Miss Williams. You will get help with money because you haven't any Wizarding family left, however, your relatives haven't completely left you out," Rae looked at him wonderingly, and so did her mother. "The Snapes had a strong inclination to believe a child with magical blood would appear in the family somewhere. But they also knew that it may be when none of them could be around to help, so they began building a fund for your support. There's quite a bit in there, but for a girl only just starting Hogwarts, the Headmaster believed that you may need a bit of help with income as you won't be working in the Wizarding world for quite some time."

Rae felt a surge of appreciation flow through her when she heard that, so her family didn't even know her yet they started to help her, years and years before she was born! She pouted a little; she wished her mother had been one of those people who had children before they were old! Then she may have had a chance to meet her uncle… maybe he would have been able to see that she was a witch and could have taught her everything about this strange new world. Thousands of questions burned inside her head, but the thing that took priority was going with this man and finding out what a real live wand looked like!

* * *

**Chapter Two Preview****: **

"**Ah, I'm sorry, here let me help you," a boy said. Rae opened her eyes, one of the books about Wizarding History was open and a picture of a young boy was looking right at her, he was laughing. Rae's eyes widened – photographs moved?! But then she remembered the boy and turned to face him. Wait… she looked at the book, and the boy, then the book and then she noticed she'd knocked everything out of **_**his**_** hands too!**

"**Oh my God, I'm so sorry, here let me pick these up! I'm so sorry I didn't mean to, I'm sorry!" she picked all of his things up and handed them to him, "I can't believe I ran into a famous person and knocked everything onto the floor, I'm sorry!" the boy looked at her a little oddly, his bright green eyes sparkling brightly and his mouth twitching into a smile. Suddenly, a much taller, older version of the boy came hurrying up behind him. **

"**Albus what's going on?" he asked. Rae almost fainted, the boy called Albus laughed.**

"**I'm not the famous one; my dad is. He's Harry Potter."**

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**A/N: So, what do you all think? Thoughts on the first chapter would be really appreciated ;)**


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

They had to go all the way to London to get everything, and it took a long time to get there from where Rae lived (using normal transport of course) so Abel suggested that Rae stay in a sort of hotel for wizards until it was time to go to the train station. It was a lot more cost-effective and easier on everyone, although Rae's mother was almost in tears saying goodbye. Then again, so was Rae. She collected all of her things and packed it into an old trunk her mother kept in the spare room, it took a while because Rae had so many clothes from over the years that she didn't know how many to pack seeing as it was a boarding school, more or less. Though Abel suggested that she went shopping the next day as it was the free day she had before going to Hogwarts and that the shops in 'Diagon Alley' as it was called, had good Wizarding fashion. Rae didn't know whether to believe it or not, though.

"All packed and ready to go?" he asked, returning from the fireplace downstairs, Rae nodded but she looked back sadly at her laptop, lying very lonely on her bed (which was practically devoid of stuffed animals as she found a way to cram the most special ones into her trunk). Abel noticed this and chuckled, "electrical things don't work at Hogwarts so you're going to have to leave it behind, I'm afraid."

"But… my _music_! Can't you bewitch it or something to make it work?" she pleaded, she could see that Abel was thinking about it. But then he shook his head and said:

"You have no room for it in your trunk anyway."

"I could take my iPod!" she suggested happily, grabbing her bright green iPod Nano from one of her chest of drawers. He sighed and nodded, finally, saying that the Headmaster may allow something to be done. Rae almost hugged him, and immediately hid the earphone wires underneath her red button-up shirt, leaving the earpieces to dangle over her chest. Quickly pocketing the machine, she announced that she was ready. Abel picked up her trunk as it was too heavy for her to carry and they went to say goodbye to Rae's mother before leaving for London. "I'll write you as much as I can, don't worry!"

When they had gotten the bus to the city Sheffield (where they would get a train to London), Rae remembered how he had asked to use the fireplace. Abel smiled at her and pulled a little leather pouch from inside his jacket. He loosened the strings to open the pouch and Rae looked inside, it was… powder? "It's called Floo Powder, it's used for transport. Basically, you throw some into the fire, step in it and shout clearly where you want to go and it'll take you there. It's a very uncomfortable process though, and sometimes you can end up coming out of the wrong fireplace which can be quite troublesome. Although you can also use it to just pop your head through into another fireplace to deliver a message, which is what I did. Usually you have to send an owl with your letter, saying you're coming to Hogwarts but I didn't have one on me…"

Rae was now really confused. So you could teleport through fireplaces with some sort of powder and you sent your letters with owls? She suddenly realised this must be a mobile phone-free world and was glad she'd left hers at home. Well, it wasn't like she had anyone but her mother to contact anyway.

Once in London, they quickly made their way through the streets. Rae had never been there before, so she had no idea where she was going and almost got separated five times because of the crowds. Abel suddenly took hold of her hand and led her through the flocks of people; at least _he_ knew where they were going. Rae had to wonder, where in London would sell things for wizards? It confused her, surely it would have been noticed or something. And also, she couldn't see anyone that looked different, like Abel, they all looked like normal people doing normal things. "This is the Leaky Cauldron, it's where you'll be staying," Abel said. Rae looked around; she could see a lot of shops, including a large book shop and a run down record shop. Abel looked right between the two buildings and moved Rae's head so she was looking in the right direction, and there it was. It was a grubby looking pub, and no one else seemed to be able to see it. They all rushed by, glancing at the book shop and the record shop as if there wasn't anything between them at all.

Abel lead her up to it, opening the door and holding it open for her. Rae looked around; it was rather dim and empty. A group of old men sat around a circular table, a couple of women were sat in a darkened corner and a young man was at the bar, talking to another young man behind the bar. They looked across as Abel and Rae entered and the barman waved at Abel. "Hogwarts business, Abel?" he asked.

"Yes," Abel nodded with a smile, approaching the bar, "also, I would like to book a room for tonight and tomorrow night. The young girl comes from quite far away, so I thought it would be easier if she stayed here until the first of September." The barman nodded and opened an ancient, beaten guestbook. A few minutes later, he handed Rae a key. "I'll be coming to pick her up at nine on the first, look after her until then, okay?"

Soon, they were standing in a small courtyard, facing an old brick wall. Abel got out a thin stick of wood (a wand! Rae excitedly thought) and began counting some of the bricks. He stopped, and tapped it three times and Rae gasped. The brick had wriggled slightly, and then a hole appeared, growing bigger and bigger until a huge archway had formed, and behind just through it was the most marvellous sight Rae had ever seen. The street was cobbled and winding, going on for ages until it twisted out of sight. There were so many people, too! All dressed in strange clothes that Rae couldn't imagine seeing in the middle of London. She stepped through and watched as the hole shrank until it disappeared, and then began taking in the sight before her. The first shop was selling cauldrons, there were about twenty stacked up outside, Rae saw people her age with their parents and other people who looked like students going in and observing cauldrons, picking them up, comparing one to the other. Abel pushed her forward slightly and they began walking, though Rae wasn't paying much attention to where she was going, she was more interested in what was around her.

A group of women were chattering irritably about the prices in the apothecary across the street, a gang of children were pressing their faces up against the glass of a store selling broomsticks and talking about the brand new models. Owls hooted happily from a store called _Eeylops Owl Emporium_. Rae gazed at them, they were so beautiful! But that wasn't all, there was a _huge_ store with tottering piles of books and more coming into the store and loads coming out, there were shops selling hundreds of different types of parchment and ink and quills, there were shops with all types of disgusting parts of animals like eels' eyes and bat spleens (Rae wasn't too amazed by that one). There were shops with telescopes and weird silver instruments that Rae wanted to find out about, there were globes of planets and the moon and maps of the skies and then Abel stopped.

"Gringotts, the Wizarding bank," he said, Rae let out a sound of awe and disbelief. The building really looked amazing and beautiful, she thought the cramped, busy stores and winding street of Diagon Alley was amazing but in a completely different way to the bank. They went inside and gave a goblin sitting on a tall stool behind a long counter. Rae tried hard not to stare. She'd only ever read about goblins in fairytales and they always seemed to be the bad guys. Though she could see why, they had narrow, dark eyes and long pointed fingers. They just looked menacing.

After a very sickening ride on a creaky cart, Rae felt happy to be standing outside of her vault, on flat ground! The tiny key was inserted into the door and it opened, revealing a vast room piled with mounds of gold, silver and bronze coins. Rae's jaw dropped. Silently, she stepped inside and looked around. "How long did you say my relatives were saving for?" Abel laughed, giving her a satchel to put some money in.

"Just get enough for this year and we'll save the rest, you're only in your first year so you won't be going to Hogsmeade or anywhere," Abel told her. Rae nodded but still piled quite a bit into the satchel, she had no idea how much things cost in this place so she had to be prepared! A moment later, they were back on the cart and then in the blinding sunlight pouring over Diagon Alley. Taking out the list of equipment, she thought it'd be best to get everything done in order. "So, your uniform is first? You can get that from _Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions_." They went over to a store not too far away from the bank. There was only one other student in there, but they were just finishing and left as Rae went inside.

After finishing with the robes, Rae and Abel headed to the large book store she had seen earlier, and Rae was glad to see a clothes store opposite, and more witches than she liked to see were crowding inside the shop. Maybe it would be less crowded tomorrow, she hoped. After getting the set books, Abel went to get some books for his classes, so Rae decided to walk around and get some books for background reading. She found a book about Hogwarts, and she decided to get a couple of books about Wizarding History and also another book about mythical creatures. Piling them up in her arms, she turned around and –

"Ouch!" – she fell to the floor.

"Ah, I'm sorry, here let me help you," a boy said. Rae opened her eyes, one of the books about Wizarding History was open and a picture of a young boy was looking right at her, he was laughing. Rae's eyes widened – photographs moved?! But then she remembered the boy and turned to face him. Wait… she looked at the book, and the boy, then the book and then she noticed she'd knocked everything out of _his_ hands too!

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, here let me pick these up! I'm so sorry I didn't mean to, I'm sorry!" she picked all of his things up and handed them to him, "I can't believe I ran into a famous person and knocked everything onto the floor, I'm sorry!" the boy looked at her a little oddly, his bright green eyes sparkling brightly and his mouth twitching into a smile. Suddenly, a much taller, older version of the boy came hurrying up behind him.

"Albus what's going on?" he asked. Rae almost fainted, the boy called Albus laughed.

"I'm not the famous one; my dad is. He's Harry Potter."

For a moment, Rae didn't move, and then she let out a wail and slapped her hands to her head, feeling unbelievably embarrassed. Whilst she was trying to hide her shame, Harry picked up her books and smiled at her when she looked at him, passing the books back. "I see your doing a bit of background reading… one of my best friends did that when she first came to Hogwarts. She didn't know anything about the Wizarding world because she came from a normal family, I guess I should have done that too." He laughed. Rae took the books, thanking him, but averted her eyes. She was from a normal family… well, sort of. Harry noticed this and smiled gently, placing a hand on her shoulder, "don't worry, it's nothing bad. People who have parents who aren't magical still turn out to be amazing witches and wizards. My best friend, Hermione Granger, was just about the smartest girl in the school. Just try hard, and you'll be able to do anything. It doesn't matter whether you're pureblood, half-blood or what. Chin up," Rae looked at him again. He was very strange. "Come on Al, your mother's waiting." Saying goodbye, Harry turned and walked off.

"I have to go, but… I'm Albus Severus Potter, so… I'll see you in school, yeah?" he smiled and followed his father. Rae's eyes widened. Albus… _Severus_?

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**Chapter Three Preview****:**

"**Have I seen you before today?" Harry asked, "it's just… your eyes look familiar." Just then, Harry's scar gave an odd twinge. **


	3. Chapter Three

**A/N: Ah sorry for the late update! Exams have started at school and the teachers are piling coursework and homework and all sorts of things on us, which really isn't fair D: but I'll try and keep updating as quick as I can! Some lovely reviews might motivate me to update quicker ;)**

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**Chapter Three**

She didn't say anything to Abel when he met up with her. After all, there could be hundreds of people called Severus! But… it did make her wonder. After _Flourish and Blotts_ they went to the apothecary's to get potion ingredients, then the cauldron store, then they got brass scales and a shiny collapsible telescope and a set of crystal phials. Then Abel decided it would be a good idea to get a supply of parchment, quills and ink which was great fun for Rae because she loved to write and there were so many things in the store! She got inks of all different colours, an assortment of beautiful quills (including an exquisite peacock feather quill) and then normal parchment, but she couldn't resist buying some patterned ones either. Afterwards, they headed to buy a wand when Rae almost walked into someone else. A squat woman had just ran by, screaming about something or another. And then Rae saw what she was running after, a tiny ball of fluff of some sort. No, wait, it was a kitten, she noticed a second later as it began to try and climb up her leg with rather large paws. Rae laughed and picked it up – it was so _fluffy_! And its eyes were a beautiful bright emerald green… they sort of reminded her of Albus and Harry's eyes. The woman approached Rae, exhausted from the chase.

"T-thank you, s-so much!" she panted, reaching out for the kitten. When Rae began to pass the kitten over, however, it began to wriggle and claw its way back up Rae's arm. Rae brought the kitten to her chest again, and it curled up happily by her neck.

"How much is the kitten?" Rae asked, stroking it. The woman looked at her in disbelief, after the show the thing had put on, who'd want to buy it?! But then she suddenly looked relieved to have it taken off her hands and told her the kitten was female and was seven galleons. Rae paid the woman and bought all of the necessary things to keep a kitten, and she had already been house trained so the only thing left to do was name her!

"I think… I'll call her Lexxie! Yes, that's a good name, isn't it Lexxie?" Rae said happily, cuddling the little creature in her arms. Abel looked at her with a slight smile, she may seem grown up most of the time, but really there was no mistaking how carefree she could be. Well, what more could be expected of an eleven year old girl? They returned to their previous task of going to the wand store. Abel told her all about the previous owner, Ollivander, and that he was practically the best (and most famous!) maker of wands in the world, for a very long time. But he was also very old and passed away, leaving his store to his grandson, who was also called Ollivander.

Inside the store was quite small and gloomy, there wasn't very much light and everything seemed to be covered in a layer of dust. By the door was a window, and in front of the window was a rickety old chair that Abel sat down on, holding Lexxie. Directly in front of the door was a counter, and behind that Rae could see a narrow corridor made up of shelves which were piled to the ceiling with thin boxes that held wands. A moment later, a middle-aged man appeared from the corridor. "Good afternoon, my dear. Just starting Hogwarts, I presume?" Rae nodded, the man spoke in a very soft voice and had bright grey eyes – he was a little creepy, if she told the truth. He came from behind the counter holding a tape measure and smiled at her, "well, we should get started. Hold out your wand-arm please," Rae decided this meant her writing arm and she was left-handed, so she held out her left arm. He nodded and began measuring different lengths; from shoulder to finger, wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor and so on. It seemed every part of her was measured before he was finished.

Next second, he rushed off behind the counter again and disappeared down the corridor. Rae turned to give Abel a very unsure look, but he just smiled at her as if this was amusing. Well, it probably was to him. Mr. Ollivander returned carrying three separate boxes. He laid them down on the counter and motioned for Rae to come forward as he opened the first box, taking out a long, thin wand and handing it to her. "Holly and dragon heartstring, quite supple – six inches. Give it a bit of a wave," he said. Rae felt quite stupid but she did as she was told and waved the wand, but she had hardly lifted it when he took it off her and began to open the other one. "Ebony and unicorn hair, flexible – nine inches," once again, she began to wave it but he shook his head and took it off her. The third one was no good, either.

And neither was the sixth one. However, this seemed not to bother Mr. Ollivander at all, the more wands they got through, Rae noticed, the happier he was. He stood back and looked at her for a moment, circled her once or twice and then held his hand to his chin, thinking. Coming close, he looked into her dark, almost black eyes and gave her a slight smile. "Ah… I wonder," he disappeared again and when he returned, he only carried one box. He passed her the wand, saying, "willow and phoenix feather, nice and swishy – eight and a half inches." Rae held the wand in her left hand and knew it felt different. There was a warmth that radiated from the wand, and as she rose it, bright red sparks shot out of the end and illuminated the dull little shop. Ollivander clapped joyously. "I knew it, the wand chooses the wizard, you know. You must be a natural with practical magic, and of course, animals," he winked. Rae didn't quite know what he meant, but she wanted to leave the shop as soon a possible. Paying him (eight galleons), she hurried out.

"I wonder what's so strange about this wand… or me," she thought aloud, "he seemed very pensive just before he brought this wand, as if he knew it was going to be this one. And he looked at my appearance too; do I look like someone who had this wand before?" Abel's eyes widened, as if in shock, but just for a moment. He smiled.

"You look like your uncle," he said. Rae was surprised, she'd never heard of people looking like uncles or aunts, it was always parents or grandparents. Abel seemed to see this. "Just as he did, you inherited your grandfather's eyes. As it is said, the eyes are the window to one's soul, Ollivander never sold your uncle his wand, of course he's too young. But a long time ago when the original Ollivander was captured by the Dark Lord, this Ollivander must have seen your uncle a couple of times, you know, checking up on the family, making threats and so on. Your uncle was a double-agent, as they say. He worked for Albus Dumbledore, the greatest wizard I've ever come across, and he was a spy in the Dark Lord's inner circle.

"Unfortunately it was very dangerous work, and the Dark Lord… well, he was the one who killed him. It was a mistake really, because it was all for an extraordinary wand but Severus was mixed up with another and it was he who ended up paying the price. Funny thing was, it was just those two in there, except Harry Potter and a couple of friends. No one knows why, guess it was all part of the 'master plan', but Harry and his friends watched Severus die and didn't make a single move to save him."

Rae didn't speak; she was too shocked. So… her uncle could have been saved? His death was a big mistake and there were people who could have saved him but they just sat there watching! She blinked a couple of times. Why…?

*

An hour later, she was in her room in the Leaky Cauldron and Abel had gone. Rae had gotten through a couple of her books already and Lexxie was busy playing with some of her toys on the floor. The barman, Justin, was happy to give her two bowls for her kitten's food and milk. Rae sighed; she felt very restless. Why did Harry Potter name his child after her uncle? Maybe he felt guilty about watching him die, she thought bitterly, and what was the deal with this Albus Dumbledore person? She closed her current book and reached for the history ones, maybe they'd tell her. And they did, sort of. It explained about a war with an extremely dark wizard who had been terrorizing the world for many years. He was called by a lot of names in the book: He Who Must Not Be Named, You Know Who, Lord Voldemort, the Dark Lord. Apparently, the only person this 'Lord Voldemort' was afraid of was Albus Dumbledore, one of the greatest wizards in history and headmaster of Hogwarts. Also, Harry Potter survived a deadly attack from Voldemort when he was only one year old and was prophesized to destroy Voldemort. Unfortunately, there was nothing about her uncle.

Feeling even worse, Rae stood up and headed to the door. Lexxie suddenly dropped her toys and bounded after her. It seemed that the pub was a lot busier now; Rae could hear lots of voices and laughing. She picked Lexxie up in case there _were_ a lot of people and began to descent the stairs. A moment later, she wished she hadn't.

"Ah, hi there! I didn't think I'd see you until school!" Rae looked into the startling green eyes of Albus Severus Potter and wondered what she had done to deserve this torment. She smiled at him though, and decided to finally introduce herself.

"I know, I'm surprised to see you too. But at least this time I didn't run into you," she laughed, he did too, "my name's Rayven Williams, but you can call me Rae."

"Ooooh, has ickle Albus got himself a girlfwend?" a taller, older-looking boy mocked, coming up behind Albus. The young boy looked immediately annoyed. "Bloody 'ell, Al, you've done well," he said a little more seriously, looking Rae up and down. She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Ah, the girl from earlier! I hope you two aren't giving her trouble," Rae gulped and looked up into another pair of green eyes. But this time they belonged to an older, wiser face with a deep lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. She stared up at him for a moment and he smiled, suddenly heat rose up in her face and she felt herself blush. _"Though you could say Harry Potter got revenge for Severus though…"_ did he know? Could he see Severus in her eyes like Ollivander had? Was he smiling at her like that because of who her uncle was, because of what he did. Rae was about to look away, but then something happened that she couldn't have counted on.

"Have I seen you before today?" Harry asked, "it's just… your eyes look familiar." Just then, Harry's scar gave an odd twinge.

* * *

**Chapter Four Preview****:**

"**He died… during the war?" Hermione looked a little aghast that Harry would mention such a thing. However, Rae nodded.**

"**He shouldn't have," Rae said bitterly, not realising what she was saying, "apparently it was all for some 'amazing' wand… he wasn't meant to die. The person who brought me here, a Hogwarts teacher, told me some things. He said this Voldemort guy thought he had to kill my uncle, but it was someone else! My uncle died for no reason…" Rae stood up, looking straight at Harry, "but you, **_**you**_**," **_**you just watched him die!**_


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

Rae shook her head a little too quickly, Harry smiled at her, but this smile was gentle and understanding. "I see… I'm sorry." Rae looked at him again, he knew she was lying, but he was too kind to keep asking for the truth.

The Potters invited Rae to join them for supper and she decided to accept, it would be a little rude not to, and she'd enjoy the company. There was another family there too, the Weasleys, and they also had a cat though it was a lot older, male and called Crookshanks. Still, he didn't say no to chasing mice and playing with Lexxie. The other boy Rae met was James Sirius Potter, and there was also a young girl called Lily Luna and Harry's wife was Ginny. The Weasley family were comprised of Hermione Weasley and her husband Ron who was also Ginny's older brother, (Rae remembered reading a short part about the couple in one of the history books as being Harry Potter's best friend, Rae guessed that Hermione was the friend Harry had told her about previously that day). Then there were two children, Rose and Hugo. Rose and Albus were in Rae's year, James was a year above and Lily and Hugo were two years below – which they didn't seem too happy about.

"So, you're from a Muggle family then, Rae?" Hermione asked interestedly. Rae suddenly became uncomfortable.

"Yes… well, sort of. It doesn't really affect my bloodline, but my mother has a half-brother who is a wizard… well… was. He died nineteen years ago," at that moment, she lowered her eyes and didn't see the glance Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Ron shared. Rae brought her eyes up to meet Harry's again, and there was that twinge. He cleared his throat, he had to figure this out. Nineteen years had passed without his scar bothering him at all – who was this girl?

"He died… during the war?" Hermione looked a little aghast that Harry would mention such a thing. However, Rae nodded.

"He shouldn't have," Rae said bitterly, not realising what she was saying, "apparently it was all for some 'amazing' wand… he wasn't meant to die. The person who brought me here, a Hogwarts teacher, told me some things. He said this Voldemort guy thought he had to kill my uncle, but it was someone else! My uncle died for no reason…" Rae stood up, looking straight at Harry, "but you, _you_," _you just watched him die! _Rae shook her head and cleared her throat, "I'm sorry. Please excuse me," tapping her thigh, Lexxie looked up at her owner and leapt after her, clambering up the stairs and out of sight.

An uncomfortable silence followed Rae's departure. Harry looked hard at the table. It couldn't be who he thought it was… could it? But he did something and it had made her very upset, and it took place during the war. It all added up, but he was missing a few vital pieces. Just then, he realised that everyone was looking at him. Ginny laid her hand on his shoulder, her face uncertain. Then again, everybody looked a little odd. Hermione swallowed.

"Do you think… she's a relative of…" she bit her lip.

"Severus Snape," Harry finished. Albus raised his eyes to meet his father's, he suddenly felt very silly. He'd told Rae his name, but he had no idea… "she didn't finish her sentence, but I'll bet everything she was going to say 'you watched him die'… I guess it's true. I did, but I know that he understood why and he didn't hold it against me. I guess I should go and talk to her." He looked around the table, smiled slightly, and headed upstairs after being told Rae's room number by a very unnerved Justin.

_Harry was almost trembling, he knew what was going to happen even before it did, hiding in the small, dark tunnel, watching… watching the end of a man he had hated for seven years. He could see Voldemort clearly, standing in the room in the shack, his company only a snake suspended in the air and Severus Snape. It had all happened so quickly. Harry knew it was wrong. Voldemort thought that by killing Snape, the Elder Wand would be his and his alone, his to command and do his bidding without problem. Nagini the snake had been dropped onto Snape and bitten his neck… killed him. Voldemort wasn't even the least bit remorseful, of course. Harry realised his knuckles were bleeding with how hard he had bitten down on them to stop a shout, a scream, protest! This shouldn't happen. Harry watched as Voldemort and Nagini left the room and Snape twitched on the floor. He was dying._

He knocked three times on Rae's door, wondering if she'd open it. He only had to wait a moment before he heard footsteps, a click and the door creaked open, revealing a very pitiful Rayven. She was in black pyjama bottoms and an emerald green strap top, her hair was down but messy as if she'd run her hands through it a lot and her eyes were red and swollen from crying. Harry immediately felt a whole lot worse. He closed his eyes for a minute, when he opened them; Rae had moved allowing him into the room. He walked in and she shut the door.

"I'm sorry," he apologised. Rae looked at him, he was being sincere. "He shouldn't have died, you were right," her brow furrowed. Did he realise who she had been talking about? "Your uncle was Severus Snape, right?" she nodded. "I had no idea he had family… he always seemed so distant from everyone when I was at school, but I guess I never took much time to figure him out, find out the truth behind things he did. I was stupid in my youth. At that time I wasn't too sure what side he was on, still."

"And that justifies it? It's okay that he died if he was on Voldemort's side?" she asked, getting a little angry. Harry quickly shook his head and hurried to continue.

"A lot of people died during the war, a lot of people I loved and cared about but I couldn't make a move to save them. If I could have, I would. Even though I hated Snape, or I did then, I would have saved him. But you know, he understood what I did," Rae stared at him, "I think for the first time in his life, he didn't hate me. I went to him as he was dying and he gave me his memories, to explain it all. To prove that he was _good_ and to give me reasons for the things he did, for why he was so harsh to me. Finally, we understood each other and I respect him so much. I thought I'd never like a Slytherin, but he was probably the bravest man I ever knew."

It was silent for a moment, then, without warning, Rae burst into tears. Harry was a little shocked, but then he smiled gently and put his arms around her. He'd be like that too, he thought, it must be very hard for her. But at that moment, like the time he met the Weasley family on his first visit to Kings Cross Station, that his family would take care of this girl as much as they could and there would be a bond that would never break.

*

The next morning, Rae was sleeping so soundly she didn't hear Albus knock on her door. All four times. When she finally did wake, though, she had the distinct feeling she had missed something. Lexxie was curled up on the pillow beside her head, so she moved slowly so not to wake her. Brushing her hair and washing her face, Rae pulled on her slippers and black dressing gown and headed downstairs for breakfast (despite it being eleven a.m.) Harry and Ron were downstairs talking to Justin when she got there, though when they saw her Justin immediately asked her what she wanted for breakfast – so suddenly, in fact, that she didn't reply for about a minute.

"Umm… just toast please," she said, taking a seat.

"Albus knocked on your door about four times this morning, were you tired?" Harry laughed. Rae almost hit herself, _four times_? She nodded in reply, "well Ginny and Hermione are taking everyone out shopping later on and they thought they'd invite you. They're all up in their rooms at the minute but I can tell them if you'd like to go." Rae accepted happily as her toast was being placed down in front of her.

About one p.m. Rae was waving goodbye to Harry and Ron with the rest of the Weasley and Potter family and then followed them all through the brick archway once more into Diagon Alley. This time it was still busy but not as much as it had been the previous day. Rae had bought all of her money, eager to check out that clothes shop. Apparently, the other girls were planning on doing the same thing. However, the boys were more interested in looking at the store selling broomsticks. They split up into two groups, Hermione went with the boys and Ginny went with the girls (as she was more interested in the clothes than Hermione, who wasn't really that bothered).

The store was rather big inside though it looked small outside, and had two floors, the basement was for men and the ground floor was for women. The owner was a young, very pretty woman with long curly blonde hair tied up in a loose ponytail. She gave the group a wide smile and hurried over to ask them if they needed any assistance.

Most of the group split up inside the store, each looking for their own thing. Rae bought quite a bit (though she hadn't planned to) and was quite surprised to find that wizards had a very good fashion sense and most of it included clothing non-wizarding folk would wear. After scouring the women's section, Rae headed downstairs to find a nice big top to wear to bed when winter came. It took a while, but she finally settled on a plain white shirt with a big red splatter in the middle and a black and white radio cassette on top of it. She was admiring it when a voice sounded behind her:

"You have good taste," she whipped around and saw a young boy looking through the clothes rack behind her. He was smiling. Rae smiled back at him. He looked about her age, with slicked back platinum blonde hair and cool grey eyes, his face was quite pointed and feminine, he was very pretty.

"Scorpius, have you finished yet?" someone else said. A tall man approached them, Rae noticed that he looked very much like his son, except his hair wasn't slicked back and instead was very short at the back with loose strands of hair falling over his grey eyes. He looked at Rae for a moment, she looked back. It seemed to last forever and it seemed that the older man was holding back a gasp, or a scream, she didn't know which. But moments later, he nodded at her and said: "I expect you're starting Hogwarts this year also?" she nodded. "Where are your parents?" he looked around the store as if they were hiding behind a rack of clothes or something.

"Um… they're… not like me," she replied, not knowing how to phrase it. This didn't seem like the right thing to say, she decided, as the man's polite air turned a little cold and he nodded, quickly saying goodbye and taking his son by the shoulder, leading him away from Rae. Just as the two males were walking up to the ground floor, Ginny came down, her eyes following the older man in a hateful way. She approached Rae, "does he not like people like me?"

Ginny sighed a little sadly, but smiled, "that's Draco Malfoy and his son Scorpius. They're not very nice people. They're pureblood, which means all of their family have magical blood. A long time ago, most people thought that if you had Muggle blood, you were… well, not as good, so you got treated badly. And for people who had no magical blood running in their family whatsoever, they got the worse of it. It's not so bad now, but if anyone calls you a 'Mudblood', give them a good old punch in the face. Or I could teach you the Bat Bogey Hex, you'd love that one," Ginny winked at her, laughed, and led the girl back upstairs.

Rae got one last glimpse of Scorpius as he was leaving the shop. His father didn't look very happy and Scorpius looked a little sad, he smiled at Rae as if to apologise and she smiled back, but it was a happy one.

* * *

**Chapter Five Preview:**

"**Thank you," she said, opening it very carefully so she didn't miss anything. Inside was, as expected, a solid chocolate frog and a card. Albus told her that they were Famous Witches and Wizards cards and you collected them. Rae turned hers over and laughed out loud, showing the others a smiling picture of Harry Potter. A second later she screamed and the card tumbled to the floor. "**_**It moved**_**!" the compartment roared with laughter, which Rae didn't find so amusing. Pictures weren't supposed to **_**move**_**.**

"**I forgot Muggle photographs don't move," said James, wiping a tear from his eye, "you'll see when you get to Hogwarts, even the staircases move," this, she thought, wasn't too reassuring.**


	5. Chapter Five

**A/N: I would just like to thank **_**Aspieturtle**_** and **_**I eat Slytherins for breakfast**_** for her wonderful review (: **

* * *

**Chapter Five**

Finally it was time to board the train. Rae found her train ticket and held it tightly in her hands, reading it through. Then she noticed something odd. Platform nine and three quarters? Since when had there been one of those in Kings Cross? She just thought they went up in whole numbers. Furrowing her brow and frowning, she read it through again but it hadn't seemed to have made a mistake, the ticket looked very prim and proper. She shrugged it off, must be a wizard thing, she thought.

She dressed in normal clothes, not wanting to attract attention by wearing her robes, and finished packing the rest of her things, although she found it a bit hard to close her trunk this time round. Plugging her earphones into her ears and hiding the wires underneath her long-sleeved button up shirt again (although this one was emerald green) she put on _The Gaslight Anthem_ and shoved the iPod into the front pocket of her black skinny jeans. Someone knocked on her door just as she was pulling on her black and green converse. "Come in!" she called. The door opened a minute later, revealing Albus.

"Are you ready? We're going for breakfast now and then we're leaving for the train station," he said. Rae nodded and went to get her trunk, "don't worry, dad and uncle Ron will come and get that for you." Thinking that was a good idea, considering how heavy the trunk had now become, Rae followed Albus downstairs and once again got a couple of slices of toast. Everybody seemed very happy this morning, apart from Lily and Hugo who were unhappy about not being able to go to Hogwarts too. James was teasing Albus about what house he was going to be in and something called a 'Thestral'. Harry noticed the confused look on Rae's face when he mentioned them.

"They're magical beings, like reptilian horses sort of. People say they're bad luck and that you should be afraid of them, but don't be, they're very gentle," Harry reassured her, "anyway, you can only see them if you've witnessed someone pass away, and you shouldn't see them this year anyway because you'll be going to the school in the boats." Rae lowered her eyes and plainly said – "oh." And returned to her meal. Harry looked at her a little oddly but decided he'd upset her enough and returned to his own breakfast.

An hour later, everything was packed in two cars (one belonging to Harry and one to Ron). Rae was going in Ron's car because Harry's would be full, which was fine with her. She sat next to Rose, who was a very pretty girl with auburn-coloured bushy hair and hazel eyes. She was the first one to notice the strange noise coming from Rae's ears. "What's that noise?" she asked curiously. Rae pulled out her iPod, wondering if wizards knew what they were. "Oh right, I know what they are. They play music, right?" Rae nodded and realised she'd attracted the attention of the whole car, although the only one who looked as if they knew exactly what it was, was Hermione.

"Electrical items won't work in Hogwarts; didn't the professor who came to get you tell you that?" Hermione asked. Rae nodded and replied:

"Yes, but I'm very attached to it so he said he'll try and bend the rule," she smiled at the memory. Abel was a very nice man. But then she gasped, "I never asked about my hair straighteners!" Rose laughed, seeming to know what they were too and quickly said:

"I'll be in your dormitory and know all those sorts of things so I'll do your hair for you if you want. I can curl it, straighten it, flick it out," she began playing with Rae's hair fondly, "you could do so much with your hair, you know! It's soft and shiny; it'll probably conform to any sort of style. Do you do much with it?"

When Rae replied 'no, I usually just straighten it and leave it' Rose gasped, told her that was a crime and immediately started up a conversation about hair. She didn't seem like the girly type but she was very interested in hair, Rae decided.

*

Kings Cross was quite busy that day. It took Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny a while to get all of the trolleys back to the children and the load trunks, owl cages and whatever else on to them. Lexxie was curled around Rae's neck today; the car journey had made her tired. Hurrying up to platforms nine and ten, Rae wondered where this platform nine and three quarters was – though she didn't think she'd ask in case it was obvious or something. "Okay James, you go first," Harry said to his son. James looked more than happy to go first but Rae had no idea what this meant or where he was going. A second later, she knew.

James tightened his hold on the trolley, winked at Rae and then started toward the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Rae held her breath, wasn't he going to crash?! But, just as a swarm of students passed, he disappeared. Harry noticed Rae's puzzled look and laughed, remembering how he looked when he first saw someone disappear through the barrier. "It's magical," he said, "you just walk up to it and pass through it, easy as that. Though if it's more comforting you can take a run up, just make sure no Muggles see you. You can go now Rae." She didn't really like the idea of going now. Who knew what was on the other side? She nodded, biting her lip, but then went to stand directly in front of the barrier and took in a deep breath.

She was off. The barrier came closer, closer – she was going to crash! Rae closed her eyes and held them shut; waiting for the collision, she ran and ran – where was this collision?! Then something made her stop:

"Whoa, whoa!" someone yelped. Opening her eyes, she looked around and found herself on a platform jam-packed with people. A scarlet steam engine stood waiting for everyone to get on; some people had already and were hanging out of windows to talk to their families. Then she saw the source of the yell – it was the boy from the clothes store. She must have almost run him over with her trolley in her blind panic.

"Oh my God, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to almost run into you!" she apologised quickly. The boy named Scorpius shook his head and smirked – he really was very pretty, Rae thought.

"My dad will be here soon. But before he is, I apologise for anything he does or says which may offend you. You see, we come from a very old family that is full of purebloods and he was brought up… well, not being very fond of Muggleborns. I'm not really meant to either, but you're not too bad," he smirked again, but it disappeared in an instant. His father had shouted his name. Scorpius turned to go, but then looked at Rae and said: "see you around."

"See… you," Rae said slowly. Just then, Harry and Albus had burst through the archway behind Rae and they all moved out of the way as Ginny and Lily came through, then Ron and Rose and finally Hermione and Hugo. They all went to the train to load the trunks on the train when they found an empty compartment near the end. Rae's things were being taken care of, and she noticed that Lexxie had woken up. The platform was very loud, Rae reasoned, looking at all the trunks being scraped along the floor, thrust into compartments, people chattering loudly, owls hooting in a disgruntled manner and cats of all colour slinked between legs and other obstacles.

Rae could see Lexxie's bright green eyes watching the owls and other cats. Suddenly, a whistle shrieked and everyone made a move for the train. Rae was pulled into about four or five hugs and then helped onto the train by Harry before she really knew what was happening. Albus grabbed her hand and pulled her into the compartment where they waved at the adults, Lily and Hugo as the train began to move.

"Ah I can't _wait_ to try out for the house Quidditch team this year; dad said he's sending my broom with the post next week… hey! Rae, what house do you think you'll be in? With all that green someone might think you want to be in Slytherin," James joked, Albus wasn't very impressed as he said:

"She was wearing red the other day! Didn't mention anything about Gryffindor then, did you?" James rolled his eyes at his brother.

"What's Slytherin, and Gryffindor?" Rae asked, confused.

"They're houses," James replied, "We're all in Gryffindor – that's for the brave and courageous. Ravenclaw's for the smart ones, Hufflepuff is for the really nice, honest ones and Slytherin are just for the ones who deserve to be hung."

"_James_!" Rose exclaimed irritably. He just smirked at her, and she decided she better carry on. "Slytherin has some _good_ people in it. Though they're mostly made up of purebloods, some aren't, and it's gotten quite diverse recently. People only think Slytherin's bad because it used to churn out dark wizards by the second, and the people in it weren't very nice. Voldemort was from that house, and if you ever hear of Draco Malfoy, he was too and he and my dad and mum and Uncle Harry _hated_ each other." Rae thought of Scorpius and his father, he didn't seem very kindly towards her, when she thought about it.

Albus piped up next: "but don't worry if you're in Slytherin, my dad says I was named after two Headmasters of Hogwarts and he said my middle name, Severus, was perhaps the bravest person he knew," Albus smiled softly at her, and Rae suddenly felt a connection with that house. "Although Slytherins and Gryffindors still don't like each other very much, so if you're in that house, your housemates and ours won't be too happy with us being friends."

"And I'll bet everything I own that little brat Scorpius will be a Slytherin, just like his dad. Both of them are going to be as slimy as each other, I bet!" James said contemptuously. Rae could have thrown something at him; Scorpius was very nice to her on both occasions that they had bumped into each other. She felt a strong urge to tell him that she'd love to be in Slytherin and that she'd be best friends with Scorpius if she could help it! This little annoyance caused her to be quiet for most of the train ride, only speaking when someone asked her something. Most of the time she was playing with Lexxie.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" a plump, elderly woman with a kind face asked when she slid open the compartment door. James was the first to the trolley, he'd been complaining of dying of hunger for the past ten minutes. When he'd finished, Albus went and bought enough of everything for the rest of the compartment. Rae was expecting liquorice allsorts, Mars Bars, Haribo and other sweets she knew but instead she was presented with Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Botts' Every Flavour Beans, Pumpkin Pasties, Droobles Best Blowing Gum, Liquorice Wands and Cauldron Cakes and an assortment of other strange things she'd never even heard of. Albus passed her a Chocolate Frog.

"Thank you," she said, opening it very carefully so she didn't miss anything. Inside was, as expected, a solid chocolate frog and a card. Albus told her that they were Famous Witches and Wizards cards and you collected them. Rae turned hers over and laughed out loud, showing the others a smiling picture of Harry Potter. A second later she screamed and the card tumbled to the floor. "_It moved_!" the compartment roared with laughter, which Rae didn't find so amusing. Pictures weren't supposed to _move_.

"I forgot Muggle photographs don't move," said James, wiping a tear from his eye, "you'll see when you get to Hogwarts, even the staircases move," this, she thought, wasn't too reassuring.

* * *

**Chapter Six Preview****:**

**Rae closed her eyes as the hat dropped over her head, falling past her ears. When she opened her eyes, she stared out at the black insides of the hat. All was silent for a moment before a small voice whispered in her ear. "Ah… we have a difficult one here, don't we?" it said. Rae's eyes widened and she gulped, gripping the edges of the stool. "You're a very smart, witty girl, I can see that. Ravenclaw would be very proud to have you, looks and brains – just like her. Though you're brave and not afraid to speak your mind, you stand up for what you believe in and will fight to the end as Gryffindor would. Though I see Slytherin more clearly in you than many people. So… where shall I put you?" Suddenly, her uncle popped into her mind and the conversation she had had with Albus about he being in Slytherin. But then she thought of Albus and Rose, they were in Gryffindor – but Scorpius! She bit her lip. The hat seemed to sense her confusion and quickly screamed…**


	6. Chapter Six

**A/N: Sorry for the loooooong wait for this chapter. I've been having internet troubles, and my art exam is in a week D: ohdearohdearohdear. But I'll still try extra hard to keep updates quick :) Reviews might help motivation? ;)  
Also, thank you _harryginnyfan101_ for the 'favourite story' :)**

* * *

**Chapter Six**

It was almost pitch black when the train stopped. Rae, Albus, James and Rose had already changed into their robes when a voice echoed throughout the train informing them that they would arrive in five minutes and to leave their luggage on the train as it would be taken separately. Despite Albus' words, Rae kept her iPod tucked in a pocket. It had unceremoniously turned off in the middle of a song about half-way through the train ride, but Rae wanted to keep it close just so she could get it enchanted as soon as possible.

The corridor on the train was packed solid; it took the four students ten minutes to get out into the freezing cold air. James pointed them in the direction of a tall, broad-shouldered old man holding up a lantern and calling for first years. After that, James bid them farewell and ran off in search of his other friends. The old man had a dark, grizzled face and his long grey hair and beard was unkempt. He would have looked rather mean if he hadn't have been having a cheerful chat with a first year about the giant squid that resided in the lake.

When the last of the first years arrived, the old man told them to follow him closely so they didn't get lost and began to make his way through the darkness to a steep, muddy path that sent a lot of the students sliding onto their backsides. "In a few minutes, you'll have your first good look at Hogwarts. Just round this corner… here we go!" there was a chorus of 'oohs' and 'aahs' as they all came out at the edge of a huge black lake. Settled on top of a large mountain, its tall turrets and towers seemingly reaching the heavens was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

*

Rae never liked boats. She thought they were very easily breakable and dangerous and she couldn't trust them at all. However, the only way she was going to get across the expanse of water laid before her was by clambering in one of the boats with Albus, Rose and another first year they didn't know. On the old man's command, the boats started forwards, cutting through the cold water and heading straight for the castle, made visible by the hundreds of glittering windows and the moon giving the castle's outline a silvery glow. Soon, they came to the cliff face underneath where the castle was perched. A huge archway with dangling ivy allowed them through to a sort of underground harbour. The old man got out first, beckoning the others to follow. After trudging down a damp passageway for a few minutes, they finally felt the rush of cold air on their faces again as they came out on to smooth wet grass in the shade of the castle. They followed the old man up a flight of steps and watched as he knocked three times on the huge oak double front doors. It opened immediately.

"Thank you, Hidges, I will take them from here," a woman said from the doorway. The first years looked at her, shivering from the cold. She was quite tall for a woman and very thin, wearing a tight black set of robes buttoned up to her neck. Her deep brown hair was pulled tightly into a bun and her gold-rimmed glasses were perched on the end of her bony nose. She looked quite strict, but, after a moment of observing them, she gave them a small smile and told them to follow her inside.

Rae had never seen anything as beautiful as what she saw now. Sure enough the castle in the moonlight was awe-inspiring, but this was _beautiful_. They had come through into the entrance hall, which was as big as her entire house and had an incredibly high ceiling (so high, in fact, that it was almost impossible to make out). The bright stone walls were lit with flaming torches held in brackets, and directly in front of them was a magnificent marble staircase leading to the upper floors. From a pair of double doors on their right came the buzzing of hundreds of excited voices, but the woman didn't lead them in there, instead, they were shown into a room off the hall where they crowded together.

"My name is Professor Stirrawit, and I am the deputy headmistress at the school. I am also an Astronomy teacher so you may probably encounter me more than a few times during the course of this year," she began in a voice as stern as her features. "Now, allow me to explain. After I have finished talking to you, you will be led through those double doors in the entrance hall to take part in the Sorting Ceremony. This is important because, whilst you continue your education at Hogwarts, you will be a part of a house. There are four houses: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Each house has its own dormitory where you will sleep and common room where you will spend your free time. I daresay whilst you are here your house will be like your family, you will have lessons with them, eat with them and I presume a lot of your friends will come from the same house.

"Whilst you are at Hogwarts, your good deeds and triumphs will earn you house points whilst misdemeanours and rule-breaking will cost them. At the end of the year, the House Cup is presented to the house with the most points which is a great honour to whichever house earns it," she finished briskly, "now, I will go and prepare the great hall for the ceremony. Meanwhile I suggest you all smarten yourselves up and try not to look so afraid." And with that, she was gone. Rae gulped and began to brush her robes with her hands, wondering if she should tuck her earphones in or not. Turning around, she saw Rose and Albus having what sounded like a little argument.

"She _said_ smarten yourself up, your hair looks a mess like this! _Why won't this bit go down_?!" Rae heard Rose hiss, trying to flatten down a bit of hair at the back of Albus' head that was determined to stay stuck up. Rose sighed and gave up, hitting a protesting Albus around the back of the head for being so troublesome. Rae couldn't help but laugh at this as she walked over to join her friends, she didn't want to lose them during this ceremony thing – who knew what it entailed? Rose seemed to notice the uncertainty on the girl's face because she explained the ceremony a second later. "It's nothing bad, you just have to sit on a stool and put some old hat on your head and it tells you where you're going. James fed Albus some stupid story about fighting a mountain troll, and the moron believed him," the girls laughed, though Albus wasn't too amused.

Suddenly, the door they had come through opened and Professor Stirrawit told them to follow her. Silently, they entered the great hall.

If the entrance hall was amazing, it was nothing compared to this! It was massive, with four long tables full of glittering golden plates and goblets and older students watching the new ones with interest. At the top of the hall was another long table facing them where the teachers were seated. Illuminating the room were thousands of flickering candles suspended in mid-air, and, more shockingly the ceiling was… well, Rae didn't even know if there _was_ a ceiling, but then she heard Rose whisper behind her "I read it's bewitched to look like the night's sky!" to tell the truth, Rae had thought the hall had simply opened up to the heavens.

They came to a halt half-way up the hall where a beaten three-legged stool was stood. On top of the stool was a very old, very dirty, very patched and frayed wizard's hat. It looked plain and worn but the rest of the students were staring at the hat so the eleven-year-olds stared at it too, their faces grim and frightened. Professor Stirrawit approached it, checked it over to make sure everything was okay, and then stepped to the side of the stool, pulling out a long sheet of parchment. "When I call out your name, you will come forward, sit on the stool and put on the hat. When you are put into a house, put the hat back onto the stool and join your house table. Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor," she said, motioning to the table on the far left first through to the far right. Bringing the parchment up to her nose, she read out the first name.

"Addams, Susan," a little, timid-looking girl stumbled forward and hurried to the stool. The hat almost swallowed her entire, tiny head but within a second, the hat screamed "HUFFLEPUFF!" and it was pulled off her head as she walked to the table on the far left. Next was Allery, Liam and Allan, Henry and soon the line of students began to dwindle. "Malfoy, Scorpius," Rae tried to catch Scorpius' eye as he walked up to the stool but he didn't see her. He didn't look the least bit afraid as the hat was lowered onto his head, but, before it had even been properly placed on him it screamed "SLYTHERIN!" Rae bit her lip. This was going to be very uncomfortable for her.

Moments later, Rae and Rose smiled a little nervously at Albus as he was called out. They were a couple of the last students to go as their surnames began with 'W'. Rose left first, giving her a fleeting smile; she had the hat on her head in a matter of seconds. And, in a matter of seconds later, she was hurrying toward the Gryffindor table. Rae tried to look confident as she headed toward the ancient hat but she had a feeling she looked more terrified than anyone else.

Rae closed her eyes as the hat dropped over her head, falling past her ears. When she opened her eyes, she stared out at the black insides of the hat. All was silent for a moment before a small voice whispered in her ear. "Ah… we have a difficult one here, don't we?" it said. Rae's eyes widened and she gulped, gripping the edges of the stool. "You're a very smart, witty girl, I can see that. Ravenclaw would be very proud to have you, looks and brains – just like her. Though you're brave and not afraid to speak your mind, you stand up for what you believe in and will fight to the end as Gryffindor would. Though I see Slytherin more clearly in you than many people. So… where shall I put you?" Suddenly, her uncle popped into her mind and the conversation she had had with Albus about he being in Slytherin. But then she thought of Albus and Rose, they were in Gryffindor – but Scorpius! She bit her lip. The hat seemed to sense her confusion and quickly screamed: "GRYFFINDOR!"

Tearing off the hat, Rae dropped it on the stool and stared at it with wide eyes for a moment before walking shakily to the Gryffindor table, being patted on the back by Albus as she sat down beside him. Across the hall, she noticed a familiar blonde boy who wasn't clapping with the others. Scorpius looked positively distraught with the hat's choice. But then, she realised, it would be enough that he was friends with a Muggle-born like her, let alone a Gryffindor. And suddenly, she felt distraught too.

Finally, a young boy and girl, both with the surnames 'Zabini' joined the Slytherins. Rae noticed that they happily sat with Scorpius – they must know each other, she thought. Then the hall turned quiet as the headmaster stood, his arms outstretched and a wide smile on his face. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts," professor Odswald said, "I hope that this will be just as interesting as the last and maybe, just maybe, a dream long dreamed will come true." Rae couldn't help but think his eyes flashed at Scorpius and then to her and her friends before he spoke again. "Alas, let me not keep you from the grand banquet that your rumbling stomachs are awaiting so eagerly. So then, dig in."

A chorus of gasps broke from the first years when they looked around to see the long house tables piled with mounds and mounds of every type of food and drink they could imagine. Steak, beef, lamb chops, pork chops, roast chicken, roast turkey, sausages, bacon, roast potatoes and chips, Yorkshire pudding, an assortment of vegetables, gravy, ketchup and so much more that she was spoilt for choice. Feeling her stomach rumble, she quickly grabbed a little bit of everything and began to eat. It was delicious! Reaching for a jug of Pumpkin Juice, Rae looked up and saw Scorpius talking animatedly with the male Zabini. She sighed. This was going to be a harder year than she thought.

* * *

**Chapter Seven Preview:**

**Not long afterwards, the head of house, (professor Niddan) began to hand out timetables. She was a very kindly looking lady who was hardly seen without a smile. Her chocolate-coloured hair was tied into a loose ponytail, the curls falling over her little shoulders. Rae and Rose looked at their timetables together, they had Charms first, then Transfiguration, History of Magic, Defence against the Dark Arts and Herbology. Rae felt a smile come to her lips; professor Moreau taught Defence against the Dark Arts. Suddenly, a groan from Rose woke Rae from her thoughts.**

"**We have D.A.D.A with the Slytherins, you have to be **_**kidding**_**," Rose moaned. Rae looked back at her timetable and, sure enough, underneath 'Defence against the Dark Arts' read 'Slytherins' in brackets. Rae bit her lip, finally she'd be able to see how Scorpius was going to act around her now she was in Gryffindor…**


	7. Chapter Seven

**A/N: Here's a short note to thank _teacher123 _:)**

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

After they had been well fed and watered (and after being treated to a wonderful assortment of puddings), the headmaster stood again. The hall once again fell silent. "Now, there are a few start-of-term notices I have yet to give you before I let you find your comfortable four-poster beds. Firstly, first years should take note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden and I would also like to remind a few of our _older_ students too," his eyes glanced in James' direction for a second. "Also, let me remind you that magic is not to be used between classes in the corridors and there _is_ a curfew for different years, the caretaker would be very grateful if you would follow those rules." The headmaster continued for a few minutes before clearing his throat and saying "now it is time for bed, please follow your house Prefects to your dormitory and have a good night's sleep. Goodnight!"

Rae, Albus, Rose and James grouped together and followed the rest of their house toward the Gryffindor dormitory. As they began to climb the marble staircase, Rae looked over the banister and saw Scorpius heading toward the dungeons with his house. Their eyes met for the smallest fraction of a second and she smiled at him, not sure whether she got a smirk or a nervous smile in reply. This lay on her mind quite heavily, as she didn't start when they passed hundreds of moving portraits or when the staircase they had just stepped off began to slide to the left. She didn't really notice that they had been lead more than once behind tapestries and doorways hidden behind sliding panels in the walls. Indeed, Albus had to grab her arm to stop her walking into the Prefect in front of them when they came to a halt at the end of the corridor.

Before them was a large portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress, she looked at the first years with a little smile. "Password?" she said. The Prefect replied: "Ignotus!" and the portrait swung open, revealing a round hole in the wall. The students clambered through it, though the smallest ones went first as they needed a leg-up. Through the hole was a cosy round room filled with squashy armchairs and lit by the flickering fire.

The Prefect pointed the girls through one door and the boys through another. Rae and Rose said goodnight to James and Albus before following the three other girls through the door and up a spiral staircase to their dormitory. Five luxurious-looking four-poster beds with red velvet hangings awaited them. Their trunks had already been bought up. Rae chose the bed closest to the tall window and Rose occupied the one beside it. No one talked much; they all seemed to be too tired, so changed into their pyjamas and climbed into bed.

Rose fell asleep straight away like the other girls, but Rae lay awake. Thoughts of Scorpius and Albus clouded her mind, and her uncle and Scorpius' father. Would her uncle have wanted her to be in Slytherin, would he disapprove of her being in Gryffindor? Would Scorpius want to be her friend now that she was in this house, portraying everything that his father hated in a witch or wizard? After a couple of hours and a pounding headache, Lexxie curled up by Rae's ear and licked her comfortingly on the cheek. Rae smiled at her kitten and, soon, they both fell to sleep.

*

The next morning, Rae awoke to someone shaking her shoulder. Rose was stood by her bedside, already dressed in her robes and brandishing her wand. "Come on! We have to find our way to breakfast in fifteen minutes and I haven't done your hair yet!" Rae didn't really want to get out of bed, but, feeling that Rose would soon use her wand on her instead of her hair, Rae thought it was best to comply. As Rae dressed in a long sleeved white shirt, black jeans and began pulling on her black and white converse boots, she heard Rose tapping her foot on the floor. Quickly, Rae slipped on her robes and turned to face Rose, who said "finally!" in a very impatient voice.

Lexxie had fought very valiantly to follow Rae to breakfast, but she hadn't thought bringing a cat to class would be a good idea so told Lexxie very clearly that she would come back at lunch and dinner to visit. Moments later, Rose was almost kicking Rae out of the common room, saying that they were going to miss breakfast. Luckily, James was only just leaving the common room, looking very tired and failing to stifle a yawn as he brushed a hand through his already messy hair. "Mornin'" he said.

The girls followed him to the great hall, where Albus was already saving them seats and tucking in to a bowl of porridge. They all greeted each other before getting their own breakfast. Rae was especially glad to see she could get a cup of tea and helped herself to a few slices of toast, spreading her jam generously.

Not long afterwards, the head of house, (professor Niddan) began to hand out timetables. She was a very kindly looking lady who was hardly ever seen without a smile. Her chocolate-coloured hair was tied into a loose ponytail, the curls falling over her little shoulders. Rae and Rose looked at their timetables together, they had Charms first, then Transfiguration, History of Magic and Defence against the Dark Arts. Rae felt a smile come to her lips; professor Moreau taught Defence against the Dark Arts. Suddenly, a groan from Rose woke Rae from her thoughts.

"We have D.A.D.A with the Slytherins, you have to be _kidding_," Rose moaned. Rae looked back at her timetable and, sure enough, underneath 'Defence against the Dark Arts' read 'Slytherins' in brackets. Rae bit her lip; finally she'd be able to see how Scorpius was going to act around her now she was in Gryffindor.

*

Charms was a very fun lesson, their teacher was a dumpy little wizard with a thin moustache and a wispy white beard. His aged, wrinkled face and watery blue eyes were very kind, and when he walked it appeared as though springs were attached to the balls of his feet. His name was professor Higgins and he spoke rather loudly for an ageing man. Transfiguration took place with professor Niddan and they proved to be interesting also. Although she was very protective of her lesson and wouldn't hear of them having too much fun; the first half of the lesson saw them vigorously copying down notes until they were finally able to try and turn a matchstick into a needle. Unfortunately, the only one who managed this was Rose – though Rae was happy to see her matchstick was sharp and was a little bit shiny.

At lunch, Rose, Rae and Albus settled down underneath a Beech tree after they had done eating. It wasn't too cold that day so they decided to stay outside and talk about their first lesson, and how much they were dreading Defence against the Dark Arts. Rae had decided not to tell them about professor Moreau, she didn't think they'd find it too interesting. As well as that, she was battling the fear that Scorpius would ignore her and the weirdness of finally calling Abel by his surname. When the bell rang, they headed for History of Magic.

This lesson was taught by a ghost, which Rae found a little strange. His name was professor Binns and, according to more knowledgeable students, he had been resting by the fire in the staff room a long time ago when he had died in his sleep. The next morning, he had woken up and gone to teach, leaving his body behind him. It was easily the most boring lesson, professor Binns droned on in a deep, monotone voice whilst they copied down endless notes and mixed almost everything up. Rae wasn't surprised to see that the only student who wasn't almost falling asleep was Rose, no one knew how she did it, but the girl simply could resist the temptation to close her eyes and ignore the drone of the ghost.

When Defence against the Dark Arts rolled around, Rae realised that her heart was beating rather quickly. She didn't know what had caused it, because there were many things tied to this lesson, but for some reason, it felt as if her heart was going to burst out of her chest.

"Well, here we go," Albus muttered when they turned the corner to approach the room. The Slytherins were already lined up outside, awaiting the teacher, and Rae, rather involuntarily, was the first to join the queue, directly behind the Zabini siblings and Scorpius. She turned her back to them quickly, hoping that they hadn't seen her. She had hoped to speak to Scorpius on his own during the lesson, not surrounded by everyone!

"Trust us to have to share this lesson with those damn Gryffindors," the male Zabini said disdainfully. "I think I'd rather sit through double History of Magic."

Rae heard Scorpius laugh, "of course you would, Demitri, it's hardly painstaking when all you do is sleep," the girl laughed at this, too.

"Morning class," a familiar voice called out from the classroom, "sorry to keep you waiting. If you'd like to come in and take a seat, we'll get started," the class filed into the room. Rae casually dropped to the back of the line and followed her friends in, glancing up at Abel and blushing as he smiled at her. Rose, Albus and Rae took seats on the right near the window, Scorpius and his friends were one row in front of them at the far left end of the classroom. "Well then, as we're all settled, let's begin. This year we'll start with the simpler things like defending yourself against small-scale spells and also we'll be learning about various dark creatures and how to protect yourself against them. Obviously, we won't be doing anything difficult so a majority of counter-curses will have to wait until later years, and of course we'll be starting with the most common of dark creatures and, unfortunately, you'll have to wait until next year to actually see them in person. However, I'm sure that won't stop us having a bit of fun, will it?" he smiled at them.

They began on theory mostly, with professor Moreau showing them movements and demonstrating spells. Rae noticed that he dressed very well in both Muggle and wizard clothes. His robes looked brand new, deep ivory black with charcoal grey trimmings. His shoes were polished and shiny and his charcoal grey cloak (matching to his robes) was also brand new and was draped over his chair.

By the end of the lesson, everybody was at least a little excited for the next one. Even though they weren't doing anything practical yet, they knew that the more they learnt, the more professor Moreau would trust them to be able to do practical things. Rae was shoving everything back into her bag when a loud ripping sound made her roll her eyes. She'd ripped more parchment that day than was good for her stock. Pulling out the ruined parchment, she crossed the room and threw it in the bin, grumbling as she turned.

"Ah!" she yelped, stumbling backwards. Whoever she walked into gasped and grabbed her wrist, pulling her up before she hit the floor. "I'm so sorry! Thank you so-" she stopped. Scorpius was standing before her and quickly averted his eyes, looking uncomfortable. "…Much." She finished, gulping. "Um… hey, Scorpius!" she smiled. He still didn't look at her.

"H-hi," he stuttered, looking back to his table, "I've gotta go, Ren wants me," he said quickly and rushed back to his friends. Rae looked after him, frowning, and noticed that the boy called Demitri Zabini was watching her. When her eyes caught his, he smirked and turned away. _"And I'll bet everything I own that little brat Scorpius will be a Slytherin, just like his dad. Both of them are going to be as slimy as each other, I bet!"_ Rae remembered how James' words had angered her and she had wanted to tell them about how nice Scorpius was to her, how she would be in Slytherin and be best friends with him… well, she couldn't say Scorpius was _slimy_, but he certainly wasn't entertaining the idea of being friends with her.

Rae sighed. "Damn Slytherins."

* * *

**Chapter Eight Preview:**

**This didn't seem to be good enough for Scorpius, as he grabbed her hand and pulled her to face him. Rae noticed that his cheeks were almost glowing pink.**


	8. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

When the bell rang for dinner, Rae rushed out of the classroom with Albus and Rose in tow. Not wanting to bump into Scorpius or his friends again, she didn't slow down until they had reached the great hall. That Demitri didn't seem to like her, either, his smirk was less than kindly. But maybe, like people had said to her before, he knew she was a Muggle-born and didn't like her for that. The trio seated themselves at the Gryffindor table and began to hungrily pile their plates with food. They could all finally retire to the common room after dinner, though it was doubtful whether any of the first years would be spending too much time relaxing as their teachers had given them mounds of homework.

"I think I'll go to the library after dinner, you know, start finding research material for that Transfiguration essay," Rose said conversationally, she was a very smart girl and it seemed that _she_ wouldn't be falling behind with homework, at least. Albus agreed with her, though Rae suspected this was because he understood neither head nor tail of the essay and would be trying to copy what Rose put. "Will you be coming Rae?"

"No, I think I'll get it done later. I have to go up and see Lexxie, and then I might take a walk or something," she replied. To tell the truth, she wasn't in the mood to be doing homework; her hand felt like it had died with all the note-taking they had done that day. When the trio had finished dinner, they bid farewell to each other in the entrance hall. Rae made her way up the marble staircase and headed off to her dormitory. She had gone through the directions to it all morning so that she didn't get lost when she was on her own, though she had no idea whether it would be much use to her. A few minutes later, though, she arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady and was hurrying up the spiral staircase less than a minute later to see her kitten. "Good afternoon Lexxie, you missed me?" she said as her kitten leapt into her arms.

Still carrying her kitten, Rae turned and left the dormitory. She was just beginning to head for the entrance hall when someone shouted her name. Turning around, she saw Abel hurrying toward her.

"Rae! Afternoon. You still got that music thing on you? I talked to the headmaster earlier and he said he'll see what he can do," the teacher said with a smile. Rae beamed at him, she almost hugged him actually, but instead she passed Lexxie over and darted back to her dormitory to fetch her iPod. When she bought it back, she swapped it with her kitten and Abel observed it curiously, "well, I'll go sort it out now and give it you at breakfast tomorrow?"

"Yeah that'd be amazing, thank you!" she nodded. Abel smiled at her again and rushed off, leaving Rae with a blush forming on her cheeks.

*

Unusually warm for September, Rae watched Lexxie bound through the grass, leaping into the air to claw at the last butterflies of the year. She stuck her hands deep into her pockets and thought about Scorpius. Why did her blood matter so much? No matter what other people said, or how many times she ran Ginny's reassuring words through her head, Rae couldn't help but let it get to her. She had honestly thought she and Scorpius would be friends but because of her _blood_ he acted as if he didn't want anything to do with her. Of course it wasn't her fault, but she couldn't let herself blame him either. She sighed and leant against an old beech tree and looked out at the lake.

"Hi," someone said quietly. Rae turned and saw Scorpius approaching her, looking a little uncomfortable.

"Hi," she said, not looking at him.

Scorpius stopped beside her, watching the lake and the little kitten dipping her paw in curiously, only to fly backwards when a giant tentacle poked out of the surface. They stood there silently for a few minutes, neither knowing what to say to each other. "I'm sorry if I hurt you," Scorpius said abruptly. Rae frowned, facing him. He looked as concerned as she did about what he had just said. Suddenly, he cleared his throat and began talking, though aiming it more at the grass than her. "I acted coldly towards you since we started Hogwarts and I thought it might have hurt you. I wanted to apologise, I never meant for my actions to upset you."

Rae turned away again, but she smiled slightly. This didn't seem to be good enough for Scorpius, as he grabbed her hand and pulled her to face him. Rae noticed that his cheeks were almost glowing pink.

"I… I want to be your friend!" he admitted, finally giving her a sheepish smile, his cheeks still glowing. Scorpius opened his mouth to reply, but there was a sudden shout which caught their attention. Rose, James and Albus were rushing toward them. "But…" Scorpius had lost the smile, and the usual melancholy expression adorned his face once more. "It's hard." He let go of her hand and turned to leave again, but now it wasn't good enough for Rae. Stepping forward, she grabbed his hand, feeling more determined than ever.

"I want to be your friend too," she said, "and I don't _care_ if it's hard! If you want something badly enough, you _fight_ for it, Scorpius!" he wasn't looking at her, he wasn't fighting her either. His hand was limp in hers, as if he just didn't care. Biting her lip, Rae stepped forward and yanked Scorpius' hand so he stumbled towards her and into her arms. He was more than shocked at this, he was downright paralysed, but Rae held him tightly in her hug. "I'll try my very best, because I really do want to be your friend." The words were barely more than whispers, but Scorpius heard her and a smile came to his lips. He had never had anyone fight for him before. Slowly, as if he didn't know what to do, he raised his arms and returned the hug before moving away and glancing nervously at the three approaching Gryffindors.

"See you," he said with a wave and, as quickly as he had come, he disappeared back to the castle. Rae smiled after him before turning to her friends; they looked thoroughly relieved for some reason.

"Oh Rae, why didn't you come with us? That Scorpius probably wanted to do you in or something," Rose panted. Rae didn't reply, Lexxie had just come back and was clawing at Rae's trouser leg. She picked the kitten up and hugged her.

"Yeah, he can be dangerous when he wants to be, Rae. You should watch out for him!" Albus warned.

"It's okay," Rae said gently, "we're friends." No amount of Galleons in the entire wizarding world could have paid for the expressions Rae got from her friends that moment; it looked as if someone had just slapped them all very hard around the face and called them highly offensive names. Rose and Albus were a little too shocked to speak, though James was purely outraged.

"You WHAT?!" he demanded furiously, "you're – you're _friends_?! With that _slime ball_?!"

"He's not a slime ball, James," Rae replied, a little annoyed now, "I've met him more than once outside of school and he's been lovely to me, and he's never said a cross word against me _or_ my bloodline!"

Rose looked extremely uneasy; she was biting her lip and fiddling with the end of her shirt with both hands. It looked as if she was trying very hard to say something but had no idea how to phrase it. Rae looked at her expectantly, she knew none of her three friends would understand her and Scorpius but it was best they got it off their chest, she decided. Finally, Rose took a deep breath and said: "We all have the right to be friends with whoever we want-" (James looked outraged at this) "-and that's the same for you and Scorpius, Rae. We promise not to judge you for the friendship, but you have to understand that our families and Scorpius' have never seen eye-to-eye. His father and Uncle Harry were arch enemies in Hogwarts and his father also despised Muggle-borns… Muggle-borns like my mother.

"He made her life living Hell during school and my parents and Uncle Harry were constantly at war with him. You can't just sit there and believe that Scorpius hasn't had any of that hatred handed down to him? Uncle Harry was personally responsible for getting Scorpius' grandfather chucked in the wizard prison Azkaban, for which Draco Malfoy swore revenge for. I doubt all of that hatred has ebbed away over the years," Rose carried on, looking rather determined. "and I can bet everything I own that Mr. Malfoy told his son stories about how Uncle Harry and my parents destroyed his life or dreams or something daft. Of course they gave him trouble but for the right reasons, I promise…" she bit her lip again before continuing. "If you want to be friends with Scorpius, then go on. But we won't be the least bit friendly towards him, it's the way this goes for us, Rae. And we will protect you, no matter what you say. Being friends with a Slytherin is one thing, but a Malfoy – well that's downright dangerous for you."

Albus saw the look on Rae's face and stepped up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder and smiling.

"We're not trying to tell you not to be friends with him, or tell you bad things about his family," he said, "we're telling you the truth. Scorpius might be a nice guy; he has friends so he must be. But he's not to us; he hates us like his dad did. We're… we're just saying that, even though we're not going to act any differently around him, we'll always be there for you."

James looked as if he wanted to say 'speak for yourself', but Rose elbowed him in the ribs and he suddenly burst with a pained smile and: "of course we will!"

Rae laughed a little and shook her head, smiling at her friends. It was strange. They had insulted Scorpius and his family which annoyed her, but at that moment, she couldn't have asked for a better group of friends.

* * *

As usual, Rose shook Rae awake the next morning. Earlier than usual. Rae groaned, waving her arm to try and get Rose to stop but the girl persisted. Now, too woken up to even try to go back to sleep, Rae sat up and glared tiredly at Rose. "I want to curl your hair, come _on_!" with one more tug on Rae's arm, she stumbled up and followed her orders. It was too early in the morning to be arguing about anything, Rae decided.

Rae had no idea why her friend was curling her hair; she just guessed that it was something to do. But then, Rae realised, they had Defence against the Dark Arts first thing that morning! Of course, that would give Rose no reason to try and make Rae's hair curly, but it was good enough reason for Rae. Suddenly, her brain furiously snapped into gear to figure out what to wear.

* * *

**Chapter Nine Preview:**

"**And one more thing, if you have a problem with me, I'd prefer you tell me instead of glaring at me all the time. It doesn't go well with your complexion," she added sarcastically. Scorpius looked like he wanted nothing more than for Rae to have shut up.**


	9. Chapter Nine

**A/N: Aaah, sorry for the huge gap in between uploads! My art exam is over *phew* but literally, as soon as that finished I came down with a sucker of a cold, that's suddenly turning into the flu. However, I've done a couple more chapters, chapter ten will be up as soon as eleven is done, and hopefully I'll be back on track :)**

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**Chapter Nine**

Most people were lined up outside the classroom when Rae and Rose arrived. They had spent even longer getting ready because Rose had tried to force Rae to wear a skirt and a fitted white shirt with short, puffed sleeves. Rae disagreed, thinking that a white shirt with long baggy sleeves that tightened at the wrist and hugged the hands comfortably and a pair of trousers would suit her much better. After ten or so minutes, the pair decided to go with the skirt and the long sleeved shirt and ran off to have a quick, late breakfast. Unfortunately for Rae, this meant she hadn't been able to get her iPod back because professor Moreau had gone to get ready for the lesson long before she had arrived in the great hall.

"Morning, Scorpius," Rae smiled as she passed the Slytherins on the way to Albus outside the Defence against the Arts classroom.

"Morning…" Scorpius said, looking a little abashed. Demitri Zabini on his left was almost shooting daggers at her. If looks could kill, Rae thought irritably to herself.

"Good morning, class! Come on into the classroom and we'll get started right away," professor Moreau called as he opened the door, he looked a lot brighter than usual today. The class filed into the room, but because Rae was near the front, she hadn't had a chance to stop and talk to Abel. A pang of longing shot through her, she really missed that damn iPod. Wizards had no idea what they were missing out on.

Adding to Rae's frustration, Abel didn't mention anything to her throughout the lesson when they copied down notes on dark creatures; drew and labelled detailed diagrams of them all and began to study spells. Scorpius seemed to be avoiding eye-contact with her and every time she stood up to go to the bin or something, he either ran off to his seat if he was stood also or bent as low to his desk as he could, even more so avoiding her eyes. Demitri Zabini had been glaring at her since first thing this morning and it started to get really uncomfortable, if he had a problem, why didn't he tell her?! Rae felt her short temper getting even shorter, she wasn't one for hating people behind their backs.

"So, before we pack up, can anyone tell me, in detail, what the Impediment Jinx is?" Abel asked, looking around the class. Rose's hand shot up into the air as usual, and, with a smile he said, "yes Miss Weasley?"

"The Impediment Jinx is a spell that slows down moving objects and is more commonly used in defence to obstruct attackers, therefore giving the caster time to run away or prepare for a fight," she replied confidently.

"Exactly right! Well done Rose, five points to Gryffindor. Well then, everyone pack up and then you can go to your next lesson. Rae, would you mind staying behind after class? Won't be long," Rae nodded and hurried to pack her things away, wondering what spell they used on her iPod and hoping it hadn't broken. Rose and Albus waited for her outside the classroom when the bell rang, they had Potions next.

Abel opened his desk drawer and pulled out the iPod, looking at it curiously before handing it over. "The headmaster said it's yours to use as much as you want as long as it's not in lessons or anything of that sort, but otherwise, the enchantment will last for the entire of this year and next year you'll have to get it enchanted again," he explained. Rae wasn't really listening to him as much as she should have been, but she couldn't help noticing how much happier he looked, well, she thought he was happy before (or at least, not sad) but in comparison, something had definitely been up with him before.

Thanking the professor, Rae turned and headed to the door but stopped. She turned to face Abel who was watching her and said, "professor?"

"Yes, Rae?"

"I'm glad whatever was bothering you before isn't anymore, you suit being happy much more than being sad," she didn't wait for a reply before she opened the door and disappeared behind it. Abel just watched after her, more than a little taken aback.

*

Professor Adrastea Kells was the Potions teacher for their year. She was a slender, pale woman with long shiny black hair and dark eyes that, according to Rose, only wore black. True to Rose's words, professor Kells wore swishing black robes buttoned up to just above her chest with large silver toggles, a thick black velvet choker and even her long nails were painted black. For some reason, this didn't seem like a fashion statement.

She let the class into the dimly lit dungeon room, waiting for them all to sit down before snapping the heavy door shut and sauntering up to her desk. Like all of the other teachers before her, she read out the register first and then turned to the class, gently placing the register back on her desk with long, elegant fingers.

"Seeing as this is your first Potions lesson with me, we'll go through the basics," she said in a soft yet dangerous voice. "Potions is a very delicate form of magic that requires little wand-waving, so many of you will not believe this is magic at all. But let me assure you, it is an ancient form of magic that was used before wands, so treat it as you would Charms or Transfiguration," she fiddled with her wand, her eyes sweeping over the class before saying: "what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Rae didn't need to look to know that Rose's hand had shot up into the air. No one else seemed to have a clue what monkshood and wolfsbane were. "Yes?"

"There isn't a difference, professor. Monkshood and wolfsbane are the same plant which also goes by the name of aconite," Rose answered, as confidently as she had in Defence against the Dark Arts.

"Correct. Well, why haven't you all copied that perfect answer down, as none of you knew it before Miss Weasley told you?" professor Kells asked quickly. Suddenly, everybody dived for their bags and pulled out parchment, quills and ink, afterwards, the only sound was that of quills scratching furiously against parchment. "Now, we will start with theory notes which deal with plants and their uses in antidotes. I will dictate a lot of it to you firstly and you shall copy it down, in the second half of the lesson I will be setting a task involving your books and then you will get homework."

Throughout the lesson, everybody was silent. This was probably because professor Kells didn't wait long for them to copy down what she had just said so note-taking took up almost all of their concentration, but she seemed like a very to-the-point teacher who didn't believe much in second chances. Most people got this feeling from her so they didn't try her patience. Otherwise, she seemed fair and alright as long as you did as you were told.

However, Rae wasn't thinking about the professor that lesson. The morning hadn't gone very well for her at all. Scorpius was avoiding her (when she had thought she had gotten very far with him the previous day) and the Zabini boy was acting as though he wanted nothing more than her death. As for the Zabini girl, she just pretended like Rae didn't even exist. Once again, Rae felt her temper bubbling like a potion heated for too long.

*

"Come on, I'm starving!" Albus said, grabbing his bag and hurrying to the door. Just as he was about to leave, though, someone shoved him out of the way and into the wall.

"Watch where you're going," Demitri Zabini said coldly, stalking past him. Albus didn't say anything, which only annoyed Rae further.

"Why don't _you_ watch where _you're_ going seeing as you're the one who shoved him out of the way?!" Rae growled angrily, her hands balled into fists. Demitri stopped, waited for a moment as if he was deciding whether Rae had spoken to him or not and then turned. Ren Zabini was leaning against the wall, her arms crossed as if she was merely waiting for Demitri to tie his shoelace. "And one more thing, if you have a problem with me, I'd prefer you tell me instead of glaring at me all the time. It doesn't go well with your complexion," she added sarcastically. Scorpius looked like he wanted nothing more than for Rae to have shut up.

"Oh I'm sorry, did I anger the filthy little Mudblood? I wasn't aware you were fit for anything more than a glare," he said mockingly. Rae was fuming.

"Alright, that's _it_!" she started, stepping towards Demitri, forgetting her wand completely. Albus and Rose seemed to know exactly what their friend was thinking as they shouted "Rae!" and held her back. "Let me at him, _let me at him_!" she yelled, waving her arms in anger.

"Haha, look, she hasn't even got her wand out. What? Were you going to throw your weight at me like those pathetic Muggles you love so much do?" Demitri was almost laughing at her.

"Pathetic?! I'll show you pathetic you little-"

"Miss Williams?" Rose and Albus jumped away from her and Rae stopped dead, turning around slowly. Professor Kells had just appeared at the door and was watching the group curiously, though it appeared that she hadn't seen or heard anything that had happened. To Rae's annoyance, Demitri was smirking horribly at her, expecting for her to get told off. "Oh good, you're still here. I need to have a word with you; the rest of you can go to lunch."

Still smirking, Demitri ushered his sister and Scorpius towards the great hall. Rose and Albus looked like they wanted to stay, but Rae shook her head and motioned for them to go. Professor Kells opened the dungeon door and allowed Rae to go in first. The young girl stood in front of the desk, feeling utterly outraged that she would be the one being told off for this when it was that damn Zabini boy who had started it!

Professor Kells leant on her desk in front of Rae. She could evidently see the anger in Rae's eyes because she chuckled lightly and shook her head, looking at the student. "You really are like him, aren't you?"

Now Rae really was confused – who _was_ this woman?

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**Chapter Ten Preview:**

"**When he found me, it was terrifying. For an eleven year old girl, I had never seen anyone so angry… so hurt. I had accidentally stumbled on his most private thoughts and feelings, the memories he cherished more than any other. Of a girl whom he loved, but died because of him. The reason he became a spy for Albus Dumbledore… Lily Evans… more commonly known as Lily Potter."**


	10. Chapter Ten

**A/N: Thank you _Angelpris_ :) you really got me going with your reviews and support and I've been working like mad to get a couple more chapters done! Chapter eleven should be posted in a couple of days' time :), enjoy!**

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**Chapter Ten**

"L-like who?" Rae stuttered. She knew who professor Kells meant, well, she thought she knew, but Rae wanted to know who this woman was.

"Your uncle, of course," professor Kells said with a little smile, "I started Hogwarts when he was headmaster," Rae almost gasped, but instead her mouth just hung open a little. Professor Kells, Rae noticed, looked rather sad. Her eyes were aimed at the floor and her smile was sorrowful. How was the professor and Rae's uncle connected? What had happened nineteen years ago when professor Adrastea Kells had started Hogwarts? Before Rae could ask any of these questions, however, the professor stood and went into the top drawer of her desk.

"A lot of people in Hogwarts disliked professor Snape, but they didn't really understand him. Well, I wasn't meant to but I like to think that it was fate that I found out the truth," she continued, not looking at Rae. "You see, I was sent by a teacher to his office with some things but when I was there, some students caused a commotion so he had to hurry off, leaving me waiting. The cupboard that he had been in when the commotion started hadn't been shut properly, and it attracted my attention.

"I didn't know what a Pensieve was so, naturally, I was curious. It was only when I had fallen into the professor's memories when I knew it was something not meant for a student. And I found out the truth about him, about why he had done the things he had, why he was doing the things he was. Professor Snape's life was a sad story and I felt sorry for him, for what he had been through," professor Kells was still determinedly not looking at Rae. "When he found me, it was terrifying. For an eleven year old girl, I had never seen anyone so angry… so hurt. I had accidentally stumbled on his most private thoughts and feelings, the memories he cherished more than any other. Of a girl whom he loved, but died because of him. The reason he became a spy for Albus Dumbledore… Lily Evans… more commonly known as Lily Potter."

Rae thought her heart was going to stop beating. Harry Potter's mother?! Suddenly, Rae felt even angrier that this had all been hidden from her.

"Professor Snape allowed me to keep my memory, and my knowledge of what I had seen. I promised not to tell anyone, and we grew close after that. He needed someone to confide in, you see, someone who would understand his sadness and not treat it as weakness… someone who would comfort him and not make him feel stupid," professor Kells had seemingly found what she was looking for as her hands stopped moving. "In return, he protected me from the Dark Lord and his followers. And when the war…" she stopped for a moment, her eyes closed and she swallowed. But a moment later, she continued.

"When the war reached its climax and Hogwarts was turned into a battleground, I got lost in the castle when the first years were meant to be protected. I was only eleven and was scared out of my wits. I knew no spells, no curses, nothing to protect myself with. So, as you can imagine, when a Death Eater approached me I was so scared I stopped dead in my tracks. I thought 'he's going to kill me'," she smiled. "But professor Snape saved my life. He took out the Death Eater and put me in a secret room and cast enchantments all over it so I would be safe… and then, before he left to join the Dark Lord, before he died… he gave me this."

Professor Kells pulled out a long silver chain with half of a pendant depicting half of the Hogwarts coat of arms, the side with Slytherin and Ravenclaw. She walked around the desk and took hold of Rae's hand, opening it and lowering the cold chain onto her palm. "I think he knew what his fate might be because he told me to keep this, and when his family returned to this school, they should have this. I think you know who has the other half."

Rae thought for a moment before saying "Lily Potter?"

"She never took it off, according to Albus Dumbledore. It's up to you what you want to do with it, but I've fulfilled his last wish. You have it. You may go to lunch."

*

Rae's head was bursting with thoughts and theories. She had fastened the chain around her neck the second she had left the dungeons. From what people had told her, Severus Snape was a Slytherin and he hung around with a Slytherin crowd. He hated Harry's father and his friends with a passion, yet he was in love with the girl who would later marry Harry's father. Being a Slytherin, his hatred for Gryffindors like James Potter was natural, Rae thought, recalling what Rose and Albus had told her about the two houses. So why would he choose a pendant like this?

She pulled it out from underneath her robes and examined it. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff would be on the other side, and when the two pieces were joined, Slytherin and Gryffindor would be one. Together. Unity. Rae stopped and sighed. That was it. Severus Snape hated the Gryffindors, every single one of them, and Lily Potter probably thought exactly the same about the Slytherins. But those two were friends, and they got the pendant to always remember that. No matter what house they were in, they were friends, and whenever they came together, they would still be friends. Their houses would be one.

As Rae neared the great hall, she was struck with a brilliant idea. Well, two. She walked past the Slytherin table and noticed Demitri Zabini watching her, hoping to see something that showed she had been told off. But instead, she turned to him, smiled and waved. He looked appalled. Rae laughed to herself, he really did underestimate her.

"Rose?" Rae said, sitting down at the Gryffindor table for a quick lunch. Rose looked up at her friend curiously. "You know how you can buy robes and stuff with the Hogwarts crest on it… well, would there be a way to get a pendant?" this confused Rose a lot more than she had been previously, but she didn't say anything and sat for a while, thinking.

"No, but I've heard of a store in Hogsmeade that sells jewellery and all that. Come to think of it, there's a Hogsmeade trip next weekend and my cousin Victoire's going on it as she's in seventh year. I could ask her to get you one if you want?" she replied.

"Um sure, but would I be able to talk to her after? You know, like, tell her what I want and that." Rose nodded and opened her mouth as if to ask what professor Kells had wanted her for, or why Rae suddenly wanted a pendant with the Hogwarts crest on it, or probably a thousand other questions. But instead, she closed her mouth and continued eating.

*

Later that evening, Rose had found Victoire and left Rae and her to talk about the pendant. Rae took the chain out from underneath her robes and showed it to Victoire.

"I got this handed down to me, but I don't have the other piece. When you go to Hogsmeade, could you try and get the other for me? I want to use it, you see, but it doesn't really work with only one side."

"Um, yeah sure. I think I've seen pendants like this before. A long time ago though, the store owner told me ones like this went out of fashion years ago and she was only selling them to get rid of stock. I'll have a look though," Victoire answered. Rae thanked her and gave her a few galleons, hoping that the store would still have one for her. Just as she was heading up to the girls' dormitory, Albus noticed her and called her over to the notice board.

"Look, we have flying lessons on Thursday!" Albus said happily, "with the Slytherins though," Rae grimaced. That's all she needed, to make a fool of herself on a broomstick in front of Demitri Zabini and his snobby little sister. But, she reconsidered; it could be a good thing. If he laughed at her she could always smack him around the head with it.

Laughing at this thought, Rae went upstairs and did her homework before getting into bed. She had Astronomy at twelve in the morning the next day, so she'd need all the sleep she could get to be able to stay awake for the lesson.

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**Chapter Eleven Preview:**

**Now, it was Demitri's move, and if he made one, he'd never make another. Well, if he had half a brain he wouldn't.**


	11. Chapter Eleven

**A/N: Thank you _DrumminTater _and _Journey For Three Little Birds_, hope you like this chapter :)**

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**Chapter Eleven**

Thursday came pretty swiftly in Rae's opinion. That might have been because she had a nap after dinner, before Astronomy and because they had first lesson off Thursday morning so they could recuperate after the late night. After History of Magic, the first years trekked down the lawns to where the Quidditch referee and flying lessons instructor was waiting, twenty or so broomsticks laid out in front of her.

"Right, everyone stand by a broomstick and hold your right hand over it. Yes, that means make sure the broomstick is on your right hand side," the teacher rolled her eyes at a student who had tried to put his right hand over the broomstick on his left hand side. He quickly corrected his mistake, his face glowing crimson. "When you're ready, say 'up' and the broom should jump into your hand. Don't be afraid, now, or the broomstick won't move at all."

Rae watched Rose and Albus retrieve their brooms without the slightest difficulty. But of course, they were wizarding children. Rae took a deep breath and looked down at the old broomstick at her feet. _Please don't embarrass me in front of the Slytherins_, she thought before saying "up!" and to her surprise, the broomstick leapt into her hand where it lay in her grasp, quivering slightly.

"Okay, everyone's got their brooms. Mount them yourselves and I'll come round to check that you're holding it right. We don't want you sliding off the end," the instructor told them all. Rae watched how Rose and Albus did it before putting one leg over the broom and holding it, frequently checking her friends' hands to make sure she was doing it right. The instructor didn't find a problem, to Rae's relief, but also to her dissatisfaction, she didn't correct the Zabini twins either.

"On my whistle, I want you to kick off from the ground, hover about two feet up in the air until I blow my whistle again, and then come back down." Rae gulped. She looked down at the broom again; it was still quivering. She hoped this didn't mean the broom was out of control or something. That'd be just her luck, to have a faulty broom. "One, two, three-" but before the whistle had even touched her lips, one of the brooms shot from underneath a student's legs, dropped the student on the floor about four feet from the class and flew back toward the castle. The instructor yelled furiously. James and a couple of friends were rolling with laughter up at the castle.

"I'll have your necks for this, you pests!" she rounded on the class, "don't you dare even think of flying those brooms before I get back, or you'll be expelled faster than a Snitch can fly," then she went running off to the castle to catch James and his friends.

"Oh look what James has gone and done now! He'll be expelled one of these days, just you wait and see," Rose said, shaking her head. Rae opened her mouth to reply, but someone else did it for her.

"Like anyone would care, one less Gryffindor would do the school some good, I daresay," Demitri sniggered from his group of Slytherin friends. Rae turned to him, one eyebrow raised.

"And you think you and your slime-ball friends improve it? Don't make me laugh," she retorted, ignoring Rose and Albus' warnings for her to shut up. Demitri seemed to be expecting this though, because he stepped forward, broom in hand. Rae didn't flinch, even when he was only a few inches from her, and a lot taller than her too.

"The school would be a lot better off made up of Slytherins. At least they're clean and… what's this?" his hand reached towards Rae's chest, but before she could move, Demitri had pulled the silver chain from around her neck. It must have fallen out when she was mounting her broom.

"Give that back!" she snarled, reaching for it. But Demitri was too quick for her, he'd gotten onto his broom and risen four feet up in the air before she had even gotten anywhere near him.

"Come and get it," he jeered, dangling it above her head. Rae bared her teeth at him before mounting her broom again. Rose grabbed her.

"Don't! You'll get into trouble!" she said.

"I don't care! That pendant means more to me than keeping out of trouble does," Rae bit back, forgetting her previous worry about failing on a broom and kicking off from the ground, her anger the only thing fuelling her. It seemed enough for the broom as it whipped toward Demitri and had passed him in a second. Rae had tried to grab the pendant but hadn't managed to get it from his grasp and had only spun him around in the air.

"Ah, so the Mudblood can fly. What a surprise," he sneered. Rae glared at him. Somewhere far below, Rae heard Scorpius shout: "Just give it her back, Demitri; the instructor will be back any minute now!" Demitri ignored him, still dangling the pendant above the ground.

"I said give it back!" she yelled, flying at him. Once again, she failed to snatch the pendant from his grasp and had only spun him around. To her satisfaction, though, he was starting to look a little sick. "Is that all you can do? Steal stuff? Well you're as pathetic as you are slimy, you arrogant prat, now give it back!" Demitri glared at her, but looked for a minute as though he was going to give it back to her… and then he threw it.

"Woops."

Rae didn't wait to hear what he had said, or look at the expression on his face. She went straight into a dive, hardly aware that they had somehow risen a good sixty feet. The pendant was falling fast toward the forest. If she kept this up, she'd smash right into the trees. But if she didn't catch the pendant, it would smash against them. "Come on, faster, faster!" she urged the broom, tightening her grip around the handle and leaning forward.

She heard some people gasp, maybe a scream but the wind howling in her ears was almost deafening. She heard professor Kells' and Abel's words about her uncle, she remembered professor Kells' story. This pendant meant so much to him; he wanted to pass it on. To remember the friendship. She had no idea what had happened but for some reason she was screaming at the top of her lungs, pushing the broom onwards. She _had_ to stop this pendant from breaking!

The trees came closer, closer. Rae stretched out her hand as far as it would go. A minute more and she'd crash into the tree. Gritting her teeth, she stretched out her fingers, yanked the broom upwards with her other hand and grabbed the pendant. Her feet landed on the tree trunk and pushed away, sending her back into the air and soaring back to the amazed class.

Luckily, the instructor didn't appear from the castle until after Rae had landed and was fastening the necklace back around her neck. Demitri now owned a particularly foul expression and looked as if he could murder Rae on the very spot. Rae glared back at him, assuring him that the feeling was mutual. Scorpius, to Rae's increasing annoyance, had become extremely fascinated in his shoes.

*

Friday passed without more trouble, but it also made Rose and Albus worry. Rae didn't understand why they were so concerned; after all, she was more than happy to pummel Demitri Zabini into the floor if he said one more thing that pissed her off. Unfortunately, her friends didn't think this way, and they were fanciful of the idea that he was coming up with some unbelievably horrible plan to get her back.

"It's the sort of thing the Zabinis would do," Rose said anxiously, twirling her spaghetti absent-mindedly. Rae laughed, eating her dinner without so much as a slight worry hanging over her shoulder.

"You should be at least a little scared, Rae; the Zabinis can be dangerous – just like the Malfoys!" Albus warned her across the table. Rae sighed and shook her head, rolling her eyes at her two friends.

"Look, let me do this how I want, okay? If that scumbag comes anywhere near me with a wand, I'll nick it off him and shove it where the sun don't shine before he has any chance of hexing me," she assured them. Just then, somebody appeared behind her.

"Who's gotten on _your_ bad side?" James asked, his eyebrows raised. Rae smirked at him and shook her head as he took the seat next to her, still waiting for her to answer his question. Without hesitating, she quickly went through the whole ordeal with the Zabinis and how Albus and Rose were worrying a tad too much, and that she had plenty of ideas in her head about what she'd do to Demitri Zabini if she got the chance. Rae half expected James to react like his brother, but then she realised she'd forgotten who she was talking to.

Clapping Rae on the back, James said, "well if you ever need any help, you know where to find me. I've been itching to get at that little prick for days," he growled at the last bit. "I don't like his attitude. It stinks of the old Purebloods. Give me one reason to hex him to oblivion and I bloody well will." Rae laughed and nodded, accepting his proposal for help. She knew, even at this early stage in her school life, that if someone could raise hell, James Sirius Potter could do it better. Now, it was Demitri's move, and if he made one, he'd never make another. Well, if he had half a brain he wouldn't.

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**Chapter Twelve Preview:**

"**You know, you haven't looked at me properly since that night…" he said, leaning against the wall. Why did he have to look so cool? "Afraid you'll blush?"**

**Right. That was it. She glared at him, not caring if she blushed or not.**

"**Abel, you are such a prick!"**

**And then she stormed off, blind once more. But this time it was with rage.**


End file.
